Neighbors
by periodic-prose
Summary: When a moving truck appeared in front of her building, Cagalli thought she was getting a new neighbor. In reality, she got a lot more. AsuCaga, KiraLacus Random others as well.
1. Bananas and Boxes

**Hello everyone. Hope everyone's been enjoying a good year thus far. **

**For me, it's new story, and new ideas. Here we go!**

* * *

Cagalli leaned out the window of her bedroom, and took a deep breath of fresh air, while stretching out her arms as far out as possible. Despite the relatively generous size of her apartment, it still felt a bit stuffy sometimes, especially on bright mornings, when the window s never seemed big enough to let in all that great sunlight. Taking a moment to gauge the weather she completed the mental checklist. Sun: yes. Nice fluffy white clouds: yes... It looked like it'd be a nice day today.

A loud thud caught her attention as her gaze dropped 5 floors down, onto the sidewalk. A moving van was parked in front of the building, and apparently a moving guy had dropped a table or something... from her angle it could have just been a very large box. She raised a puzzled yet, somewhat amused eyebrow, then taking one last glance, turned back in and started to get changed.

"Looks like someone's moving in..." She mumbled to herself, in-between pulling on a loose green shirt, and slipping her arms into a dark tanned jacket. Dashing into the kitchen for a quick bit, her hand stopped abruptly at the fruit bowl.

Snatching the single lonely banana left, she frowned and made a mental note to go grocery shopping on her way back from work. Then, stuffing her laptop into her bag as gently as well... felt like, then doing a final self-check, she burst out the door.

Promptly ramming into a very large box.

Or at least what she thought was. After all, that's all she could see...

Feeling herself falling backwards, she quickly pulled her bag in front of her to shield her precious laptop within, then felt herself slam into the ground. At the moment she was lying halfway in her apartment, and halfway a few steps behind as far as she had gotten in the hallway, due to her stumbling backwards after hitting... the box? Taking a moment to register the situation, she blinked hard before the throbbing signals of pain registered in her arching head.

"What the-, Oh my g- I'm so sorry."

The box talked.

The box talked?

Slowly she watch the box make it way to the ground, and a tall azure haired man appeared from behind it, who immediately extended his hand towards her.

"Are you all right?"

She gently pried her right hand off her bag and took his hand, pulling herself onto her feet. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she promptly sat on the box, opening up her bag to check on her laptop.

"Miss? Are you all right?"

Cagalli looked up. The dark haired man was staring at her.

"Let me... just check if my laptop's okay." She responded, still slightly shaken. God, that must have sounded lame... She looked back up. "Then I will proceed to strangle you for ramming into me."

Okay... that sounded homicidal. Not that she had a habit of thinking before she spoke anyways.

Meanwhile, the guy simply blinked. "But... You're the one that hit me, when you opened that door."

She glared sharply at him. "Well then why are you apologizing? Besides, do you really think I can see through doors or something?"

He thought a moment. "No, I suppose not. And I was apologizing out of courtesy. Besides, I can't very well see through boxes either."

Cagalli promptly snapped her laptop shut and stuffed it back into her bag. "Well then, that's that." She replied curtly. Turning towards him, she raised an eyebrow. "Why are you still here?"

"Because you're sitting on my box." He pointed, stifling a laugh.

She frowned, then rose promptly. "Happy moving."

* * *

"Cagalli..." Kira started, stressing the second syllable. "You're going to be-"

"Yes, I know I know, I'm going to be late. Not my fault. I rammed into some guy on my way." She shouted into her cell phone, while weaving her way tough a thick mass of people gathered at a bus stop. "I'm on my way."

"Dear sister, sometimes I wonder why I put up with you." He teased with a grin. "And how is it not your fault if you rammed into this guy?"

Cagalli halted her step and took a deep breath. "IT JUST ISN'T!" She screamed as loud as humanly possible into the phone.

Meanwhile, Kira who had fully expected such a reaction was holding the phone 2 feet away from his ear. "Just get over here as soon as possible. You're holding everyone up." He sighed, then hung up and turned to the pink haired woman beside him. "Late." He shrugged.

Her pale blue eyes smiled. "As expected."

* * *

Cagalli burst into the office as quickly as physically possible, just barely obeying that rule of physics that said something about slowing down when you hit stuff, or as much as she could remember from 3rd year high school.

Suddenly, a bottle of water was pushed into her face. "Thirsty?"

Accepting it eagerly, Cagalli downed it in 10 seconds flat. "Answer you question?" She gasped, and grinned. "How are you today, Lacus?"

"Happy that you're hear. I need those articles you wrote about the festival last night." She replied professionally. "Have you eaten?" She added as an afterthought.

"A bit. I'll have a big lunch or something." Cagalli brushed off the topic lightly, sitting down at her desk and starting up her laptop, which hastily connecting it to her printer. "And where's my dear brother?"

"In his office." Lacus explained. Cagalli nodded.

"I'll go and see him in a minute then." Drumming her fingers on her desk while waiting for her printer she stood up the moment paper started spitting out. "They're printing now, so just grab them off the tray." She explained, while walking towards Kira's office. Then with a paused she added, "Hey, do you know if this is anything important?"

"You mean, if it's good news or bad news?" Lacus asked, already reading the first page that had come out.

"Um, I guess?" Cagalli shrugged.

"It's... news. Take it how you like."

Cagalli pondered her words for a minute, then saying a quick thanks she bit her lower lip and continued walking towards the office.

* * *

"Cagalli?" Kira looked up from his desk to see his sister enter the office. "Hi."

"Hi... I asked Lacus and she just said it was 'news', so spit it out." She said impatiently, eager to hear what he had to say. She walked up to his desk and stood in front, arms folded across her chest and slightly leaned to the side.

"Sit down first. You look too angry like that." Kira motioned towards the chair in beside her.

"Spit it out!" She demanded, refusing to sit.

"Fine, I hired a new executive writer."

Her voice dropped a dangerous octave. "You what?..." She repeated slowly, eyes narrowing to block out all light, yet still emitting a fiery aura.

"I got a new writer." He sighed, motioning again towards the seat that she now slowly lowered herself into, well used to her threats after living with her on earth for 24 years. "I hired a new key writer... I know right now you're the only one, but you're dangerously stressed. I'm not trying to replace you, and it's definitely not that you're not doing great work, it's just that you're spread too thin. I'm hoping to take some of the weight off your shoulders."

She frowned. His explanation made sense... but hell, she still didn't like it. It was awkward enough to be working for her own brother, but the idea of him trying to replace her was just plain strange. "That's... okay. I appreciate the concern..." She mumbled.

Kira stared in disbelief. "Really? That easy?"

"Yeah, Lacus told me to take it how I wanted. I'm going to take it as less work." She explained calmly, desperately suppressing the urge to snatch him by the collar and strangle him just like they did when they were 7 years old.

"Okay then..." Kira nodded slowly, tightening his tie to make it harder for her to grab, should she make an attempt. He leaned back in his chair a bit. "He starts tomorrow... sorry for the short notice."

Cagalli nodded. "I understand. I know I'm not the… easiest person to deal with sometimes, Kira. Thanks."

He smiled gently. "Any time. And for tomorrow… Be nice."

"Of course." Cagalli replied naturally while strolling out the door. "How could I not?"

* * *

"Not very happy?" Lacus leaned over her desk.

"What makes you say that?" Cagalli frowned, pressing the keys on her keyboard a bit harder than usual.

"The fact that you have a stick figure labeled "new writer' and it appears to have taken numerous pencil stabs and drawn in arrows... and it's even pinned up on the side of your computer." The pink haired friend, and only person she trusted as an editor responded. Cagalli nodded stiffly.

"I'm a bit frustrated... Okay I'm a lot frustrated." She sighed. She had been moping all day. Now it was 4:30, and she was still angry over the announcement that had arrived hours ago. Today was her last day as the only key writer for the magazine... tomorrow there would be some other guy...

At first she didn't take it so hard. But the more she thought about it, the harder it was to swallow. Of course, she didn't want to take it out on Kira. He was trying his best, and had good intentions.

Not that she had to LIKE said intentions though.

Lacus studied her friend's face sympathetically. It must have been hard to take, but Kira hadn't meant it as an attack on her writing. He was simply concerned for her deteriorating health, due to the stress of the magazine's rapid expansion. If Cagalli hadn't' refused to let anyone else edit her work, Kira probably would have hired another editor as well.

"I'm taking off early." Cagalli sighed. "I just can't stay here. I'm too unproductive."

Lacus nodded understandingly. "Take care. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Of course."

* * *

Halfway home, Cagalli stopped on the street, muttering _"Less work… It's just less work."_ to herself repeatedly, in a way that made several people turn their heads and eye her strangely.

She had focused so hard on convincing herself that she almost passed by the grocery store without stopping. Of course, her stomach protested loudly, and she pulled herself out of repetition to obey it. Of course... food! How could she have forgotten? She needed to buy groceries.

And a lot of comfort food. Ice cream sounded good…

After a quick spin around the store, she went to buy the one thing she always ate every morning: Bananas. Yet from this distance she frowned. There appeared to be... only one bunch left. Quickly speeding up her pace she dashed over just in time to see...

The precious bananas snatched again by a horrible, evil, selfish... surprisingly good-looking, young, dark haired man. Wait a minute... This was...

"The same guy that attacked me with a box!" She cried aloud, pointing foolishly at him with a cucumber she was holding. The young man blinked.

"First it was an accident, then you accuse me of instigating the accident, and now I've attacked you?"

Cagalli blinked, then slowly became aware of her surrounding. She was in a grocery store... in public... pointing with a cucumber... to some guy holding bananas... and accusing him of assault with boxes.

Blushing red enough to rival the sun-ripened tomatoes in the pile behind her, she frowned. "Sorry..." She uttered as softly as possible.

"It's okay." He grinned, still picking up her quiet voice. Cagalli was quite unsure as to how she felt about him actually hearing that. Turning to leave, he stopped again as he felt something tap him on the shoulder.

A cucumber?

"I... I really want those bananas." Cagalli said, pointing towards the yellow fruit in his hand. "It's all I eat in the morning." She added, as an attempt at fast persuasion.

"I see..." He started. "But I like bananas too, you see. So we have a problem."

Cagalli blinked. "But I like them more." She protested stubbornly. The young man chuckled.

"I'm sure you don't. But it is a bunch, so why don't we just split them?" He suggested. Cagalli hesitated, then nodded.

"Do you have a knife?"

"Do we need one?"

"Well, we might break one otherwise, Mr..." She trailed off as a prompt.

"Just call me Athrun." He shrugged. "And since we're heading in the same direction, I guess that'd be fine."

* * *

Cagalli stared at her laptop screen blankly. Currently she was sitting in her kitchen, pondering the events of the day while examining a perfectly yellow, slightly green at the stem, but completely freckle-less banana. In her fruit bowl now sat 4 other bananas, several apples, and an orange.

They had completed their shopping together to make sure neither of them tried to run off with the precious bananas, and even waited in the painfully slow-moving and sinfully long line at the cash registers. Surprisingly, he declined to reach for the tabloids, unlike every other person in line other than her.

He said that it was bad writing, and irrelevant writing of no material value. That it was all flippant and trivial and that there were more important matters than what famous pretty person was marrying, or divorcing, or cheating on, whatever other pretty person.

She had felt strangely… relieved to find someone of the same opinion as her. Pulling out a crossword puzzle to pass the empty time, she threw a sharp glare at him after he had leaned over her shoulder, in what was probably an attempt to do it as well.

Then he told her the answer to '5 down', and she smacked him in the head with the puzzle for giving her an answer. Jerk. That was one of the ones she was trying to figure out too.

It wasn't until they had gotten back that they had realized that he didn't just live in the same building... He lived next door.

And it wasn't until they tried to split the bananas that they realized there were an odd number. Nine bananas. But instead of having to put up a fight for the precious fruits like she had thought she would have to, he simply handed the extra one to her.

"You owe me a banana" He had said, as he chuckled at her surprised reaction. As she walked him simply exit her apartment, and presumably go to his, she stood there, kind of stupidly, and stared at his retreating back. Then at the door after he had left.

He liked the fruits, right? So either he was lying from the beginning and didn't' really like them, or he was just passive and didn't want to fight for a precious extra banana, or he was just impossible to understand.

She frowned.

In any case, she now owed him one banana.

And she hated owing people things. Standing up quickly, she reached over to the basket and pulled out a banana, writing a quick note with a thin black marker and stuffing it into a plastic bag, along with the banana, then shuffling over to his door in her fuzzy, purple, bunny slippers and hung the bag on his doorway.

The note read:

"_You owe ME one banana."_

Underneath, a dark spot, where she had evidently paused, before continuing. Where the ink in the marker had ran for a while, before she finished writing the note.

"_Your next door neighbor, Cagalli."_

* * *

**Well, what did you think? I'm eagar to hear from you guys... I've been sitting in my hermit hole for a while now, and so I'm looking for a lot of feedback. **

**It's been a while since I've written anything multi-chaptered, so bear with me if I'm a little rusty. I'm also experimenting with um... less dialogue, since I feel like it sometimes takes away from description.**

**And also because I've been reading Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights... Yes. All at once. I think their writing's rubbed off on me: Especially the first two. I worship Dickens for his mastery of plot. Both Bronte sisters are beautiful writers as well, though I still think Charlotte was better at writing prose than Emily.**

**Enough of my babbling now. Thoughts please!**

**Happily writing,**

**Periodic-Prose**


	2. Interesting Discoveries

**Terribly sorry about the incredibly long lack of updates! I've been... busy and lazy XP. This chapter has been finished but sitting on my computer for a while... Very sorry about that one. In my mild defense, it wasn't really edited. **

**In any case, I now present, Chapter Two of "Neighbors": "Interesting Discoveries"**

* * *

Cagalli swung her window open, eagerly greeting the new day. Beautiful morning, as expected. Filled with cheerful disposition, she beamed as brightly as the sun.

Strolling into the kitchen, she froze. Wait a minute... rewind. Today was supposed to be miserable. Because... that new writer was coming. Swearing profusely, she snatched up a banana and devoured it in three bites. Not enough. Another one was swallowed with equal vigor.

She'd have to go shopping for more now.

Grabbing her laptop, she decided to make it an early day. After all, if this new guy showed up before she did, she'd never live it down. Marching out the door, she ran towards the elevator and pressed the down button. Waiting for a few seconds, she soon grew impatient and placing her ear against the elevator, decided that it was definitely going too slowly, and opted for dashing down 3 floors of stairs instead.

Thus she came to be in the office by 8:30. A new record.

Her first warm welcome was by Lacus, who greeted her with a slight look of surprise. "What brings you here so early?"

"Work of course!" Cagalli grinned, heading for her desk. Lacus followed along, holding a folder of layout options for the latest cover, which she was asked to deliver to Kira.

"Mmm... Sure you just don't want to show up the new writer?" She hummed. Cagalli froze. This girl knew her too well.

"Maybe... a little. But hey, can't a girl make an honest effort to do good work?" She shrugged.

"Not if there's a malicious motive..." A voice appeared from behind. Both girls spun around to face a well-dressed Kira, who had his arms folded over his chest. "You said you'd be nice Cagalli."

"I don't see how I'm not!" She protested, as Lacus handed the folder over to Kira. "And what's with the clothes?"

Her brother made a general motion of indifference. "I figured it was the guy's first day, so I aught to look decent. Technically I should dress like this everyday, I just don't like it." He smiled lightly. Both girls laughed, when another voice joined the conversation.

"We don't get new people very often anyways... well at least not at positions so high." Miriallia commented, leaning against a file cabinet. Holding the title of chief photographer, she was currently in charge of taking photos for important events, and looking over the work of other photographers. Judging by the jump-drive in her hand, she had come over use the printer on Lacus' desk, which printed much faster than hers, just at a lower quality.

"Yeah, we really don't. So I guess it's a semi-big deal?" Another voice, this time belonging to Sai. He reached over to the printer tray and grabbed the first image that came off, then grabber a piece of legal paper and held it up behind it, as if already working on how to position the image. Occupying the position of graphic designer, he was in charge of layouts, and easily one of the most diligent workers.

"What's this? We have the entire head staff gathering for this occasion?" Kira raised an amused eyebrow. Cagalli raised her hands in protest.

"Hey, don't look at me. I was just going to get some coffee."

A final voice joined the conversation.

"Excuse me?... I think this is where I'm supposed to be..."

Cagalli tilted and raised her head to see past Kira, and spot...

"Athrun!"

A blink. "Oh, hello." was his only response. "What brings you here?"

"I uh... work here?" She shrugged. This time an eyebrow was raised. All other heads turned to face the newcomer. "And why are you here?"

"I am... going to work here?" He smiled lightly. A few more moments of empty silence passed, before realization dawned on everyone present. Kira smiled and walked forward, seizing Athrun's right hand in a firm handshake.

"Welcome to the team, which is oh-so-conveniently gathered here." He grinned. "I'm Kira, editor and head. Lacus, head editor. Miriallia, chief photographer. Sai, chief layout designer, and Cagalli, executive writer." Each person nodded at the calling of their name, except Cagalli, who glared sharply.

"Cagalli, will you show him to his desk? It's right beside yours."

Cagalli blinked, then nodded stiffly. Bumping into Kira's shoulder extra hard as she brushed pass him to approach Athrun, her fists clenched threateningly.

"Think they... know each other?" Miriallia wondered aloud. Kira rubbed his shoulder painfully, and shrugged.

"Well, this isn't this an interesting development..." Lacus smiled.

* * *

"This is your desk." Cagalli pointed to it lamely, then walked out of the newly created office to go to hers. Athrun smiled faintly, lightly concealing his amusement at the young woman's response to seeing him.

At first she merely seemed to stare at him, with this perfectly unreadable expression. Now she seemed annoyed, or bothered. Was it because she had to show him around for the entire morning, or just that he was going to be working there... Or maybe it was just him?

Sighing, he quickly called out her name before she left the room. She cocked her head slightly in the direction of his voice, still not looking at him.

"I owe you a banana, right?"

That got her attention. She turned and shot a sharp glare at him.

"Yes. Yes you do." She stated matter of factly, folding her arms over her chest in mock stubbornness, and leaning ever so slightly against the door. Curiously, she watched him pull out a banana from his bag.

"This... Is what I found hanging off my doorknob this morning. So, what am I supposed to do with it?"

Cagalli raised an eyebrow. "Eat it?" She asked, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. He slapped his forehead with his hand.

"Not... that way. I mean, does this mean that I owe you a banana now?"

"Didn't you read the note?"

"...Okay. But you see, I plan to eat this. So when are you expecting a replacement?"

"I have to go grocery shopping again today anyways. And I don't really care when you give me the banana, just remember that you owe me one." she waved the issue off, in a flippant motion of her right hand. He raised an eyebrow.

"How about lunch?"

"Huh?"

* * *

Miriallia had been chatting with Lacus inside her office, which happened to be beside Cagalli's when they thought they heard voices.

Cagalli... and Athrun?

Exchanging curious glances, they silently snuck out and inched their way down the corridor. Sai, who happened to be passing by, looked at them like they were insane. Miriallia quickly clamped her right hand over his mouth before he could say anything.

"How about lunch?"

"Huh?"

This time, Lacus had to clamp her hand around Miriallia's to prevent her from squealing out loud. All three people shot each other hasty looks, demanding that the other keep quiet.

"How about lunch?" Athrun repeated again.

"Uh... I don't think I follow." Cagalli leaned backwards into the door a bit more, look as if she was going to leave the room. Hastily, the three spectators scuffled back a few feet, out of view.

"You don't? I owe you now, don't I?" A deep voice chuckled.

"Mm... Yeah, but not a lunch."

"Well then, just show me a nice place to get lunch around here. I'm not familiar with this area." He insisted. Outside, their small audience was bursting with curiosity.

Cagalli shrugged again. "Sure why not?"

Upon hearing sounds of someone getting up, and presumably gathering stuff, the three on-lookers darted back into Miriallia's office. Ears pressed against the door, they waited until they heard two sets of footsteps proceed down the hallways, accompanied with light conversation.

Looking at each other, they knew what they had to do.

Opening the door, they double checked the hallway to make sure the topics of conversation were gone... before splitting up into different directions in search of Kira, and anyone else that might be interested to know.

* * *

Meanwhile the pair of interest ambled down the street comfortable, completely oblivious to the havoc that their colleagues were wreaking back at the office. Stopping in front of a modest shop, Cagalli opened the door courteously. Athrun's eyebrows rose, surprised not only by the display of manners, but how it was her that ended up holding the door for him. A stern glare was her reply to his apparent disbelief.

"Yes I have manners, and goodness forbid a woman hold open a door right? You look like you just got smacked in the face by the 21st century. Wake up." She frowned. He smiled.

"My apologies... Mind if I ask where we are?"

"The Taqueria. You like Mexican?" She questioned.

"I... don't mind Mexican." He replied, after a thoughtful pause.

"Meaning?..."

"I've never tried Mexican."

"Try it." Cagalli responded firmly, ushering him inside. He entered the restaurant obediently.

"So now what?" Athrun asked, hands in his jeans' pocket, eyes wandering around the moderately sized eatery. Cagalli once more ushered him into a line.

"We order up here. They make it. We pay. We eat. Sound okay to you?"

He shrugged in response. "Even if it didn't, it's not like I have a choice, right?"

A grin spread across her face. "Very. Good." All her bantering opponent could do was smile submissively and chuckle, shaking his head softly.

Approaching the counter, Cagalli proceeded to order what sounded like a horrendously large burrito, with a medley of sauces jumbled enough to confuse her taste buds for days.

She insisted it tasted good.

He proceeded to order something simple anyways.

She half frowned-half pouted. "You're too plain."

He smiled a bit. "What's wrong with that?"

Cagalli looked up from her food and blinked, then narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side slightly, as if examining him. He looked on amusedly. Finally, she shrugged and returned to her food.

"Plain is... plain. Nothing wrong... It's just, plain."

Athrun smiled slightly, and nodded acknowledging, muttering slightly under his breath so that she wouldn't hear. "I agree..."

* * *

Kira stared numbly at the crowd of people in front of his desk.

Two looked excited beyond belief, but like they had just run five-minute miles... looked like he was somewhat interested but otherwise had no idea what he was doing there.

"So... according to you guys..."

"Cagalli's dating the new guy!" The auburn-haired woman responded.

"And you know this because..."

"We overheard them after she showed him his new desk... office, whatever." The other woman present answered.

"And... do you consider this newsworthy?"

All three shuffled nervously. "Uh... no."

Kira smiled a bit. "Interesting as this is... It's not something I want you guys to be reporting to me on. So get back to work."

All three nodded, and turned to leave the tidy office when he continued speaking in a louder voice.

"Of course... that doesn't mean I'm not interested at all, per say. After all, my sister's romantic life which has been basically nonexistent for her entire life, is something that I might want... semi-regular updates on?"

Milly's eyes started sparkling happily, as whirled around to face Kira again and nodded happily. Lacus smiled thoughtfully, well aware of the fact that Kira wouldn't be able to resist finding out more. Sai looked tired... Chances were he wouldn't have to do much, since Milly and Lacus were already eager to spy... err... investigate. But seeing as how he had the closest office to the new guy, he's inevitably be dragged into it.

"Great... I mean... this is obviously some form of investigative journalism. Uh, just don't let Cagalli find out." He added as a second thought, smiling a bit... half as a joke and half deadly serious.

After all, if his dear sister did find out... there'd be heck for HIM to pay.

* * *

Meanwhile, two oblivious writers were making their way down the street after a quick lunch, engaging in light, sparring conversation.

"So, what did you think of the food?"

"It's good. Eating it is a bit messy though, isn't it?" Athrun noted aloud. Cagalli nodded.

"Of course. But it's not that bad. Besides, it's kind of fun!" She encouraged.

"If you don't mind tomato stains on your shirt, I suppose." He shrugged, glancing at the corner of her top, which had a slight discoloring. Cagalli turned to hide it and glared sharply at him.

"You're just mad that you got rice in your hair." She insisted, a smile creaking its way to the corners of her mouth. Athrun turned slightly, and ran his hand through his hair, as if checking if there was any more in there.

"Oh, hold on a moment. There's a fruit stand over there..." He said, quickly making his way over. Cagalli followed, pulling out her wallet and check to see if she had enough money on her to buy some bananas. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her wrist.

"Let me guess. You want a banana?" Athrun grinned. Cagalli nodded numbly, confused as to what he was thinking. He answered her question by handing her a bag. "I owe you one, remember?"

Cagalli however was relatively stunned. "Umm... you owe me a banana... Not the…" She counted quickly, "Seven that are in this bag."

He flashed one of those heartbreaking grins you only hear about in silly romance novels. "Then you owe me six."

Her face changed expression from confusion to annoyed displeasure, as she impulsively reached into the bag and ripped off a banana, flinging it at him. "Five." She responded, turning around and stalking off.

She didn't like to owe people... but hey, she wasn't about to turn down free bananas either. After all, he'd just saved her a trip to the grocery store.

Meanwhile, Athrun was examining the banana that had just been thrown at him, after catching said fruit very skillfully. He smiled a bit to himself, and began to walk after her.

Somehow his life had just gotten a lot more interesting...

* * *

Cagalli quickly made her way back to her office, plopping down into her comfy swivel chair and placing the bag of bananas onto her desk. She started up her word processor, then took a quick glance to the side.

"Can I help you?..."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could swear she just spotted a flash of pink. Sure enough, a certain crystal eyed, cotton candy haired editor peeked out of a corner.

"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some lunch?..." Lacus started innocently. Cagalli raised an eyebrow.

"Haven't you noticed I've been gone for an hour now?"

"Hm, oh yeah, I thought you were still showing the new guy around..." Her friend answered cautiously, careful not to sound too suspicious.

Cagalli's suspicious aroused anyways, her eyes narrowed a bit. Shrugging a bit, she turned back to her computer. "I guess you can say I was... I showed him that Mexican place nearby."

Her friend held back a giddy squeal, reminiscent of teenage years. "So you went out to lunch with him?..."

Suddenly, the blonde writer's face reddened visibly. The next thing Lacus knew, she was facing a stuttering, incoherent stream of words, excuses, and the door as she was ushered out of the office.

Lacus glanced behind her shoulder, noting that Cagalli was definitely still blushing, her face lowered and shoulders hunched, as if to try to hide her face in any way possible. She turned to the eager Milly, who was hiding patiently behind a corner and nodded.

"Yep... I don't think it was a date, but it might as well have been."

Miriallia smiled. "I only wish I could have taken a picture... okay then let's check on Sai!"

* * *

Athrun felt... watched. In an eerie, discomforting sort of way. To his right, all the way down the hall was Cagalli's office... To his immediate left was the office of the layout designer, who he believed went by the name of Sai.

Though he hadn't been here long, he already felt like everyone seemed to know him. Either that, or they were just much too interested in him... or perhaps they were just very friendly people. In any case, he had trouble waling down the hall without feeling like someone was staring at him. On the lower floors, it was a bunch of the other writers, who wrote smaller articles for the magazine. In any case, it seemed that a striking amount of young female writers were asking for his advice. Strange...

Then we arrive at the upper floor, where the head of editing, photography, etc were all located, as well as he and Cagalli. For the past hour or so, a woman he remembered as the head of photography kept running into Sai's office. They'd exchange a few brief words, and then she'd run back out. Then a few minutes later, she'd be back and the cycle would repeat. Athrun was confused.

That is until Sai finally walked into his office, a weary look on his face. He tried his best to smile. "Hi, Athrun right? I'm Sai. If you need anything, just walk over."

Athrun nodded. "Much thanks. and I'll probably take your up on your offer for that. I have a tendency to run out of paper clips." He smiled. Sai smiled more genuinely and nodded.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Hm?"

"Eaten. Lunch I mean?" The spectacle-wearing man in front on him explained.

"Yeah, I just went out to eat something with Cagalli." Athrun replied, gesturing in the general direction of her office.

"Oh, I see... If you don't mind me asking, do you know her?"

"Pardon?"

"Do you know her?... Sorry to pry, it's just that you seemed to have an interesting reaction today when you saw her." Sai explicated awkwardly. Man, this was weird. Miriallia owed him BIG TIME for this...

Athrun blinked. "She lives in my building."

"You LIVE with her!" A rather feminine voice blurted out of nowhere. Both men jumped, evidently startled.

Then Miriallia strolled by Athrun's door, as casually as she could manage, yet still blushing visibly. "Sorry, I just overheard. I was going to ask Sai what resolution he wanted this photo in..." She mumbled in a desperate attempt at some lame excuse.

Suddenly loud footsteps were heard, and a panting blonde appeared at his door as well. "I... Definitely...do NOT LIVE with him!" Furious amber eyes turned towards the captured sneak. "What are all you guys doing in here! Athrun needs to work, and I'm sure you do too!"

The color of her cheeks could have been from embarrassment, or exhaustion from tearing down a hallway after overhearing Miriallia's rather loud remark of surprise.

Athrun was stunned. What were all these people doing in here?

Sai felt exhausted, and embarrassed. What WAS he doing here?

Miriallia shifted nervously. This would have been so much easier if so many people weren't here... She felt herself get pulled away from the office by Cagalli, and said a quick goodbye to Sai and Athrun.

Once again, the office was just two men, staring blanking.

"What… was that all about?" Athrun raised an eyebrow.

Sai gave him a sympathetic smile before exiting the office. "Welcome to 'The Weekly Investigator'. Pleasure to have you on the team."

* * *

Cagalli felt mortified beyond belief. After dragging Milly back into her office, she took the liberty of banning her from Athrun's office. Miriallia protested vehemently. Compromise was impossible.

"Why are you people so nosy!" Cagalli hissed angrily, struggling to keep her voice down. Miriallia frowned.

"This is an investigative magazine! Of course we are! Besides, I wouldn't have to if you just TOLD me what was going on!"

Cagalli scoffed. "Yeah, you and the rest of the world which would inevitably find out."

"Just me and Lacus!"

"Fine! He lives in my APARTMENT building. Happy?"

Miriallia's face fell. "That's it?... You live in the same apartment complex?"

The irritated blonde nodded in confirmation. "That's it!"

"No big deal..." her friend shrugged, leaving the office. Cagalli's eyebrows rose a bit. That easy?

A inquisitive voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey Cagalli?... I was getting ready to go and was wondering if you wanted to walk back together." Athrun appeared at her doorway, holding his briefcase. Cagalli glanced at the time. Was it that late already?... So much for that wonderfully productive day she was planning.

With a quick nod at Athrun's direction, she turned to pack up her laptop. Looks like it'd be a late night for her...

* * *

Meanwhile, Miriallia was already off to find Lacus, who was in her office.

"Well?..." Her friend pressed.

"They live in the same apartment complex."

"... That's all she said?"

A nod.

"Well, we'll just have to keep investigating, now won't we?..."

* * *

Athrun offered to carry something for her on the way out. She declined, securely holding onto her belongings and the bag of bananas. He held doors open for her. She insisted he let go.

And as usual, they argued the entire way home. He liked cats. He had one as a pet for the longest time. It was currently with his parents.

She liked dogs. They were more energetic and didn't lounge around all day like oversized furballs.

Cats required less maintenance.

Cats were less fun.

Dogs sometimes run away.

So do cats.

One minute they were talking about cats and dogs, the next they were fighting like them. Yet he managed to keep a smile on her face the whole time.

Finally arriving back at theirs they bid each other a quick goodnight, before retiring to their own respective apartment. Cagalli placed her fruit in her basket, and her laptop on the kitchen counter before pausing to think.

They lived in the same building. That was it.

Wasn't it?...

* * *

**So then Cagalli's confused, but what about Athrun? And how successful will the 'investigation' go?**

**As a quick note... All three ongoing stories can be expected to have slower updates. They will also be MUCH shorter. (I'm thinking... 6 or 7 chapters each maybe?... that's tentative but what I'm going for). The other two will be updated as soon as possible. I have about half a chapter done for both of those. Then again, since I plan on making it only a couple chapters, chapter length might have to go up quite a bit. **

**Much thanks to my reviewers:**

**Matsuo Michiyo, kobuto-chan, WhiteMoonTears, RoGuE-WhItE-DrAgOn, psychoanalyst, IYGU, Akatsuki Will, cottongreentea, Swt. Harmony, CookyButtButt, theLilyLady, asucags, The Angels' Princess, thousandbirds, BabuBear, Belle, animemistress419, coquettish-zala, Kazumi Kairi or Kairi-chan, DiRTy-HaRrY-1-10, Genny-chan, ANONYMOUS/acanonymous, Rayar, Feminist1991, Kintora, Garowyn, ZGMF X-19A Infinite Justice, esu-chan, Cari-Akira, Kitty-Kat90013820, The Jackle, gseedlover, XxbuffyxX, deadstrawberries, ovp, JC-Athie, aNgEl-Of-LoVe-AnD-hAtE, animeluver461, KiraTatashi, Maryam Khanoom, Princess Ashes, MissRule**

**I love feedback! If you have any comments at all, please send them my way!**

**Periodic-Prose**


	3. Rain Then Shine

**Wow, I am INCREDIBLY sorry for the lack of updates. It wasn't until I was reading the dates of Chapter Two's review that I realized how long it had been. I recently moved to a completely new city, and so it's taken quite a bit of time to get settled down again. Right now, I have a lot more free time, and so I'll probably be updating a lot more. But for now, all I can do is say that I'm very sorry about how long this has taken me to write.**

* * *

Athrun opened his eyes, glancing briefly at his alarm clock. 7:25, 5 minutes before his alarm clock was set to go. As usual... He wasn't really an early riser, but he was a regular one. He usually woke up just before his alarm clock went off... it wasn't really there to wake him up, just as a precautionary.

On Weekends he liked to wake up a little later, but still around 8pm. He used to wake up earlier so that he could go jogging, but he hadn't really had time to walk around the city yet, and figure out where a nice place would be. Naturally, when he figured out whether such a place existed, then he'd probably start waking up earlier again. But as for now, he was content in being able to sleep in.

Taking a brief shower and going through the regular habits of getting ready in the morning, he wondered if he should bother going across the hall and checking to see if his likely, cranky neighbor was up for walking to work together. Deciding to go against it, for fear that she might even still be sleeping, he simply opened his door and got ready for a nice stroll to work.

His door met someone's face.

In shock, he quickly bent down to help the poor person up, only to find a pair of furious amber eyes glaring him down. "You just can't stop injuring me in this hall, huh?"

Athrun was at a loss of words. "It... would appear so."

Cagalli stood up herself and dusted off the loose grey sweat-shorts she wore. "Well if you're heading out, I suggest you take an umbrella. It's starting to rain."

"You were outside?" Athrun remarked, with a tone that resembled surprise a bit too much. Another glare.

"Yeah, I was jogging."

"You jog?" Again, a bit too surprised.

"Yes." She emphasized, annoyance growing. "I jog two or three times a week."

Athrun leaned against the wall. "Sorry, it's just that you struck me as those late riser types."

Meanwhile Cagalli was fishing for the keys to her apartment. Glancing up she shrugged. "I am... Just not on days I jog." She grinned a bit, then turned to enter her apartment, shutting the door promptly.

Athrun blinked, then turned to go back into his apartment to get an umbrella. The thought of waiting for her crossed him, but he decided against it, for fear of smacking her in the face with the umbrella or something.

Because for some reason, they really did have a habit of meeting each other in less than unpainful ways in this hallway.

* * *

An hour later, Athrun was already diligently at his desk, gathering background information on the next person he was going to interview. Suddenly, the entire floor stopped working at the sound of a very loud entrance.

Trudging to her desk, an enraged, muddy, and thoroughly drenched Cagalli looked ready to murder anything that came in her way. Lacus poked her head out of her office curiously, before quickly dipping back in, then re-emerging with a towel. Cagalli accepted in without a word and disappeared into her office. Athrun smiled in amusement.

"Fun walk to work?" He started, strolling casually into her office. "You were the one that told me to bring an umbrella..."

"Oh, shut up." She snapped angrily. "It broke on the way, okay? Now I'm tired, cranky, hungry, and I look like crap. A car managed to dump the entire content of a sludge puddle onto me as I was making my way here." She rambled heatedly, peeling the sleeves of her jacket off and throwing the wet clump of cloth onto the ground.

Athrun chuckled lightly, "Well, I don't know what I can do about the first two adjectives, but I can give you a banana and tell you that you don't look that bad at all."

Cagalli's eyebrow twitched in frustration. "Don't flatter me. I look like some sort of bog monster from one of those old horror movies."

Another chuckled. "You overreact. Actually it makes you look like a kid that was playing in the mud or something. Very endearing." He smiled fondly, reaching forward to wipe of a particularly large splotch on her left cheek. Carefully clearing it away a bit with his thumb, he noticed the color of her skin was quite flushed.

For the first time all morning Cagalli felt too hot, quite an event considering she currently resembled a wet dog that had been caught in a typhoon. Stepping back hurriedly, she mumbled some words about how she was going to find a change of clothes, and turned to leave.

Miriallia walked into the office at that moment, briefly speaking with Cagalli who nodded in reply, before heading to Athrun.

"Let's go." She stated plainly, digging through her bag as if checking for something.

"Go where?" Athrun seemed surprised.

"Go to do the interview. That foriegn ambassador moved the interview to today, because apparently something came up and he can't make it tomorrow. I'm going to take photos. You and Cagalli are interviewing. Are you ready?" She explained briefly. "We're leaving as soon as Cagalli gets back."

The newcomer sighed and went to grab his laptop. "I don't think I have much choice, now do I?"

* * *

The interview had gone rather smoothly, despite both Athrun and Cagalli feeling uncomfortable with the idea of having to interview someone with another person present. Since they'd had practically no time to prepare together, they found they often had the same questions or got confused as to who should ask when.

Regardless, all in all, it had gone rather smoothly considering how much of a rush they were in. By the end, both of them had figured out a comfortable tempo at which to work with one another. When one asked a question, the other double checked to see if they had that question, and crossed it out if they did. And they simply began to alternate asking questions.

Since Miriallia was only there for pictures, after she was finished she rushed back to the office. Upon entering her office, she plopped into her comfy swivel chair and began uploading the pictures. Sai knocked on her door and entered.

"Hey, are you okay?"

The young photographer looked up and smiled. "Yeah. I'll have the pictures for you in a second, so just hang on, okay?"

Sai blinked for a moment. "Well, that is what I came for, but not what I was asking."

A puzzled look crossed her face. "What do you mean?"

The graphic designer adjusted his glasses and grinned. "I mean, knowing you Milly, are you okay with not being there to spy on Athrun and Cagalli?"

The young woman tensed visibly, then grinned. "What do you think?"

"I think that... It's killing you inside." He grinned back.

Milly nodded, then tugged at her hair a bit before laughing ironically.

"It IS killing me!"

Out in the hall, Lacus paused to listen and smiled a bit. "So you don't have anything for me to tell Kira?" She asked, stepping into the room.

"They were completely professional." Milly sighed. "I think they're both the more private type..." She added as a thought. "It'll be hard to get any concrete proof of a romantic feeling between them... though they seem to get along well."

"Well if it was easy, there wouldn't be any fun in it." Lacus commented with a smile. "We'll wait for them to get closer I suppose..."

Sai observed the conversation between the two ladies with feigned interest. "Well, if I may interject, your job was to take pictures of the ambassador, which I have yet to receive."

Miriallia pouted, and handed him a Flash-drive. "They're in there, spoilsport."

"Well I'm off to see Kira." Lacus smiled, exiting the room.

Milly waited until the sound of her footsteps stopped echoing down the hall. "There's something between those two, right?" She asked.

The only other person present in the room blinked, as if surprised by being addressed. "Athrun and Cagalli?"

"No..." The brunette shook her head lightly, before motioning slightly toward the door with her head. "Lacus and Kira."

Sai pocketed the flash-drive and gave her a look. "Of course." He replied as if it were the most obvious thing since gravity. Pausing thoughtfully, he grinned. "Not that either will admit it, of course..."

Miriallia sighed and leaned back in her chair. "People like them... they never do..."

* * *

Sitting in the back of a taxi on the return trip, Cagalli was listening to the tape of the interview, to make sure that nothing had been missed in her notes. Athrun was typing at his laptop, organizing questions in order of topic, then importance. However he seemed a bit puzzled by some of the questions that Cagalli had asked. What did they have to do with the feature story?

Lifting his head, he tapped Cagalli on a shoulder and picked out a few questions that he didn't quite understand. "I'm not sure why you asked these, and so it's kind of hard for me to organize." He explained sheepishly. Cagalli glanced at them for a moment, before a light flush rose to her cheeks.

"Those... are uh, personal questions that I wanted to ask." She responded after a moment of thought.

"...Personal?" An eyebrow was raised cautiously.

"Yeah... I'm doing an article. Separately." Cagalli elaborated slightly, apparently still hesitant.

""For the magazine?" Athrun was curious. Was this a separate project that had been delegated to her? Why hadn't he heard anything about it?

"No, it's for this... Journalism Contest thing. The Annual Foreign Affairs Journalism Contest." She continued, biting her lip slightly. If Athrun was entered as well, it might be wise not to reveal too much. As partially expected, a flash of recognition passed Athrun's eyes.

"You're entered?" His tone of voice didn't please her at all.

"Yes." Cagalli confirmed, with a slight edge to his voice. Athrun laughed a bit. "What? Do you find it amusing that I am?"

The young man nodded slightly, before shrugging a bit. "It's just that most entrants are considerably older. Not saying that you don't have enough experience, it's just. I suppose... Yes it was a bit surprising." He acknowledged.

Cagalli frowned a bit. "Well you knew about it, right? So then-"

"I'm a judge." Athrun cut her off before she jumped to any conclusions, which he had discovered to be quite a tendency of hers.

Amber eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. "YOU'RE WHAT!"

"I'm a judge." He repeated, returning to his laptop to find the evidence he was looking for. Shortly, he pulled up an e-mail sent by the organizer of the contest, requesting that he be a judge.

Cagalli glared at him. He had to be joking... If most entrants were already older, why would such a young person be allowed to judge?

Athrun smiled, apparently reading her mind. "If you're wondering about my age, it's not really that. I may look young, but I'm actually pretty accomplished, especially in this field. Also, I knew a couple other people on the judging panel and so I had a few connections. Finally, one of the initially selected judges withdrew at the last moment, and so they asked me to fill in. It's not a big deal, really." He shrugged it off, then tapped his laptop screen. "See? And if age is still the question, then I might as quickly be asking you why you've entered."

The female entrant blinked, looked at the screen, then looked away. "That's just for my own reasons."

He shrugged and decided not to press the issue. In any case, he'd find out. As a part of the entry, it was required that every entrant explain how they would put their prize money to use, if won. It helped them pick out a winner in close cases, to see how the money would be sent.

Cagalli leaned over to look at his laptop again, and something else on the desktop caught her eye.

"_'Erotic Homosexuality in Foreign Nations?_'" She read aloud, noting the name of a document. She turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Really Athrun? I never thought that you were... Not that there's a problem with that. But if you're not comfortable I can pretend-" Athrun turned pale, then bright red.

"Tha-Tha'ts not- it's nothing personal! It's an article! One of the entries! I'm supposed to read it and send in the evaluation." He explained quickly, clicking on another icon which opened up an evaluation file. "See? We judge the entries as they come in. It helps us keep a clear mind when reading, and avoids a last minute rush. Then in the end, we just figure out ones were given the highest rating and then re-read those, compare, and pick a winner."

Cagalli's face still had a visible smirk. "So then... you're not..."

Athrun shook his head vigorously. "I'm not! Really!" He cried desperately. The person seated beside him was still grinning ear to ear, looking like she was about to erupt in laughter. Apparently satisfied, she shrugged.

"All right then. I didn't think you were anyways... you can tell me all about your personal life later. But for now, I think we need to finish up this work."

Athrun raised an eyebrow, somewhat eager to continue the banter. "Now why would you want to know about my personal life?" He wondered, purposely aloud, pretending to return to his work. A cursory glance to the side revealed that her cheeks were turning a light pink again.

"I'm not interested!" She protested. "I was just saying..."

"Do you want a self-portrait or something?" he continued torturously.

Cagalli tried a few more incoherent words before falling silent. Athrun took a final look at her, and smiled.

"How about lunch again tomorrow?"

The blonde turned a bit more red, and didn't answer. The young gentleman shrugged. "I'm not saying you have to, but I'd like to get to know the area a bit more. Are you willing to be my tour guide for a bit longer?"

Cagalli face seemed to have returned to its normal color... well not really, but it was as good as it was going to get with him still in the car. Cramped space, with a guy that seemed all too capable of making blood rush to her face, didn't make for an easy time calming down really...

She turned to him and smiled. "Sure."

Meanwhile, a very amused taxi driver in the front could only sigh. The things he saw, just driving around people all day…

* * *

Pulling up to the office, Athrun handed the driver money for the ride, adding that he could keep the change. The rest of the ride back had been generally pleasant, in a way that had made Athrun wish that the trip back had been longer. But of course, as all good things end too quickly, he soon found himself staring at the familiar building at which they both worked. As the cab pulled away, he turned to face Cagalli who was rummaging through her bag.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Paying you back for the fare." She responded naturally, handing him some bills. "I think that's about half."

Athrun smiled, then pushed her hand away. "Forget about it."

She blinked in response. "What do you mean, forget about it? We both sat in that taxi so we both pay." Another shake of his head added to her annoyance. "For the love of... Come on! Stop acting so chivalrous and take the money."

Athrun shrugged. "I don't really feel like it. Don't worry, this doesn't add onto your running banana-tab." He grinned. Cagalli felt tempted to smack him with her digital recorder, or find something blunt to strike him with.

"Be careful Zala... I know where you live." She warned, dangerously, half amused by how much truth was in that sentence.

The addressed person laughed. "Gratefully noted."

* * *

Kira looked up quickly at the sound of a knock on his door. "Come in." he replied automatically, quickly checking to see if he looked somewhat presentable. Lacus entered and smiled.

"What can I do for you today?" He asked, cordially.

"Just wondering if I should be editing Athrun's articles as well, from now on." She responded, professionally.

"Sure, but if you feel like it's too much work feel free to pass it on to someone else." Kira shrugged. "Just make sure you read the final draft, at the very least." The chief editor nodded and then appeared hesitant to leave. "Something else?" Kira prompted.

"Just about... A very curious e-mail that ended up in my inbox today." Lacus suppressed a smirk. "Something about dinner Saturday."

Kira blushed a bit, unexpectedly.

"Well." He started, in what he hoped sounded normal and nonchalant, even shrugging for effect. In reality nothing but a string of babble was running through his head, accompanied by occasional swears due to the fact that he should totally have been prepared for this, but still wasn't. "I happened to have reservations for two..."

Lacus laughed melodiously. "As opposed to the reservation for one, that you originally planned to make?"

Kira sighed. "Look, it sounded pretty good in my head, okay?" He admitted. "I still think it's a decent first try."

Blue eyes glittered happily back at him. "Well... It took you long enough."

* * *

As had started to become the usual habit, Athrun and Cagalli once again walked home after work together. Similar to al the rest of their walks, they teased and bantered with one another, amused by each other's reactions and pleased by each other's company. Finally arriving at the apartment complex, both bid each other good night. Suddenly Athrun remembered something that he'd been meaning to ask all day... Hesitating for a moment, he called out her name as she had started to walk into her apartment.

"Hey, Cagalli?"

"Hm?"

"You said that you jog right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I was wondering where. I usually do too, but I haven't been able to find a place to." He explained, feeling inexplicably, yet mildly embarrassed and nervous. It felt like he was asking out a girl on a date, for the first time again.

Cagalli studied him for a moment. "Come jogging with me on Saturday." She replied plainly, shouldering her bag, frowning mildly at the weight. Athrun nodded, accepting her terms.

Entering his apartment, he placed his umbrella by the door, for a moment forgetting why he had it in the first place. Despite the less than ideal weather the morning had presented, the sky had become increasingly clearer during the course of the day. Afterwards, he took off his jacket and went to hang it up in the hall closet, before pausing for a moment. Funny... He didn't remember putting anything in his pocket. Pulling out whatever it was, he found exactly half the fare for the taxi.

"Now when did she sneak this in?..." He mumbled softly to himself, a smile slowly spreading over his face.

Great... Now he'd have to find some way to pay her back for this. Strangely enough, he could wait to.

* * *

**So then, how will morning jogging go between the two neighbors? And what about Kira and Lacus? Next update should be decently soon. I have a lot more time now, so I think I'll manage it. **

**Of course much thanks to all those who reviewed the last chapter. I'm always happy and grateful to hear from you. Also, thank you in general, to people who have been reading this fic. Your attention is much appreciated.**

**meowmeowtheblackcat, lil kagome 14, Tetsuni, Takari Love, Swt. Harmony, Akatsuki Will, Maryam Khanoom, X-19A Infinite Justice, Kintora, Siriuslyblacked, CaptKuchiki, The Angels' Princess, The Jackle, Life Is Death, aNgEl-Of-LoVe-AnD-hAtE, gseedlover, Belle, Kazumi Kairi or Kairi-chan, XxbuffyxX, ovp, cottongreentea, 3fi-pina3, stuntsheep, Xelrina, animeluver461, thousandbirds, PINKSISA, Rayar, ANONYMOUS-gsd, Sunflower Seeds, asga, Cari-Akira, Feminist1991, -boos-, RoGuE-WhItE-DrAgOn, Princess Ashes, daisukiasu'n'caga, Musingmiyu, Kitty-Kat90013820, Ivory Black aka Torri-Chiob..., animemistress419, IYGU**

**Thanks again! Until next chapter!**

**Periodic-Prose**


	4. Six people, One Day

**I'm not dead! I'm not dead!**

**But I have a feeling that some of you are going to kill me if I don't get on with the story now...**

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

The remainder of the week passed by relatively monotonously. Stories were written, edited, and another edition of the magazine was cranked out.

Athrun and Cagalli continued to eat lunch together, exploring all restaurants in the area that they could eat at within the lunch hour they had. Occasionally they were joined by others, and it was a comfortable lunch with fellow workers, were they could converse without the topic of work being an issue.

It was during one of those lunches that it was discovered Kira and Lacus had a dinner date on Saturday. Kira had began talking to Lacus about whether she would feel more comfortable meeting at the restaurant or with him meeting her at her apartment. The conversation caught the sharp ear of Milly, whose expression was beautifully priceless.

She began to jokingly chastise Lacus for not telling her, when Cagalli heard and immediately went up Kira to deliver her own "punishment" for being so secretive from his own sister. Kira was about to retort with a comment about Athrun when he decided to hold his tongue. There was no point in provoking them too early... that might be counter-productive in this mutual effort on the part of the entire office, minus the two people concerned.

Granted, the girls on lower floors who worked on more minor jobs seemed to hold their share of disappointment every time they saw Athrun and Cagalli walk in together, or leave at the end of the day in stride. It was no secret that Athrun had gained his share of popularity among single women. When he joined the sparely populated magazine book group, the membership mysteriously skyrocketed to never before seen proportions.

Yet despite all these advances, Athrun never strayed from his devastatingly charming ambivalence. He'd smile, nod, say thank you, then leave the room without any further thought. The girls left behind would be momentarily disappointed, but could never really stop staring. He was simply too... Athrun.

Meanwhile, Cagalli was far from oblivious to the young man's popularity. She'd simply roll her eyes and occasionally jestingly poke him, as if urging him to react in some way. With every happy squeal of "Oh, I love that book too!", she felt herself want to throw up a little. It was sad, seeing such desperateness. Did these women have no pride? And why did they have to stick themselves onto Athrun anyways? It used to be Kira, before rumors of something between he and Lacus leaked out. Now it was like Athrun was their new meat.

Cagalli wondered how those girls got any work done at all.

In that way the week flew by, until it was early Saturday morning and Cagalli was putting on a lightweight tracksuit getting ready for her morning run. Opening her door, she found Athrun, who was leaning casually against the opposite wall with his arms folded. Upon her appearance, he nudged himself up and put his arms in his pockets.

"Ready?"

"Sure."

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**

Roughly 15 minutes later Athrun found himself in a modest looking park, with a pavement path that looped around it. There were occasional benches scattered around the path, and a bean-shaped pond , slightly off center. On the far side of the pond were a few trees, most noticeably, a large willow whose branches dipped into the water below. Along the banks were various reeds, grasses, and other various plant life.'

"This is it. I know it's not big, but it's quiet. I usually do a couple laps around the park, and then head back. Sound okay?"

"Sure." Athrun nodded. No wonder he hadn't found this place. To get here they'd taken a series of turns down small streets. It seemed like this park was carefully tucked away into a more residential area of the city.

Both began at a light pace, not feeling the need to stretch after the walk here already. "So how did you find this place?"

"Uhh, lots of people like to walk their dogs here. I was thinking about getting a dog and decided to check it out. Didn't end up with a dog, but I liked the park."

A chuckle. "I see."

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**

Miriallia was on a mission... well not really but still. An old friend of hers' birthday had been over a week ago, and she had completely forgotten. Feeling guilty, she thought it suitable to buy a birthday card and mail it, then claim that it might have been lost in the mail or something to that extent.

Dipping into the nearest bookstore, she proceeded to the back where there were two or three card shelves, then began pulling out a few and browsing. Suddenly she heard movement beside her. Turning around, she found,

"Sai!"

Several heads in the quiet bookstores turned towards the sudden source of sound.

"Milly." He nodded, much more quietly than she had. "What brings you here?"

"Card." She responded, holidng up the one that happened to be in her hand. You?"

"Book." He replied, mirroring her movement with the book he happened to be holding. Suddenly, something came to Milly's attention.

"...No glasses?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Contacts. I'll be wearing them for a while. The bridge of my glasses kind of snapped..."

Miriallia smiled. "They look good on you."

Perhaps her eyes were deceiving her, but out of the corner of her eye, for the shortest of fleeting moments, she could swear she saw the faintest of blushes.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**

Kira felt a bit conflicted... not really more like stunned. He had simply been walking down the street, when through the large glass pane window of his neighborhood bookstore, he perceived two of his workmates laughing and chatting. He paused his step just in time to see the shadow of a blush on Sai's face.

"Interesting...?"

Oh the things you see on a sunny Saturday morning.

Continuing his walk, he proceeded in the general direction of Lacus' house. It was definitely early for dinner, but she said to come early. Now he just felt kind of stupid coming so early, but... well he though he might buy some flowers or something along the way.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost tripped on the leash that was attached to a rather excitable chocolate Labrador-cocker spaniel cross. The owner, a middle aged woman, apologized to him profusely, before he assured her it was fine, patted the dog on the head a bit, and was on his way again.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**

Meanwhile Frisker, quite a suitable name for said dog, was happily bounding on his way to his favorite park, where an increasing amount of people were coming in, most to walk their dogs but a few just to sit on a bench and enjoy the morning air. No others were jogging, except for two obvious figures.

They had pretty much ran in silence, and were on the third lap when Cagalli grew tired of the silence. It wasn't that it felt awkward being silent around him. In fact, he provided some of the most comfortable silence she had ever had the pleasure of enjoying. But the thing was, even if they could be silent together well, they still usually... talked.

"You know, you acting like you don't care makes it all the worse for them. It's like you're refusing to acknowledge their feelings."

Athrun blinked for a minute, adjusting to the sudden dip into conversation. He looked up for a moment, and slowed his pace a bit as if thinking, then sighed. "What feelings? It's nothing but a schoolgirl crush. If someone genuinely had feelings for me, then I wouldn't do this."

"How do you know if it's genuine or not?" Cagalli raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Because I haven't given any of them enough reason to fall in love with me. I don't know the vast majority's names, much less do they probably anything more about me that my name and appearance." He shrugged. "One of the books a girl told me she liked was '100 Illustrated Methods of Medieval Torture', which I haven't even read. I just happened to be _holding_ it. Call be crazy, but I don't think she really liked it, and if she did, I don't think I want to get to know her much better."

By this time, the both of them had completely stopped running altogether. Cagalli had her hands on her hips, head tilted in mock inquiry, chuckling at his anecdote. Athrun was shrugging casually with a hand in his pocket when suddenly...

He felt something securely wrap around his leg. Looking down, a wiry black string seemed to have wound itself around his leg. A burst of laughter ahead of him directed his attention to the hyperactive puppy that the string seemed to be attached to, and Cagalli, who was currently laughing at the literal tangle he was in.

Prompted by the laughter, the dog leaped forward towards the source, thereby winding himself around the blond after several bounding circles around her. Before she had come to realize it, she was also wound into the leash...

Bending down to try to pull a leg free, she found that Athrun was attempting the same thing with a slight blush of embarrassment. A similar hue graced her face, and she tried stepping in and out of the strings getting tangled beneath her, all to no avail. All the while, Frisker continued happily yapping, enjoying the game of tangle-up-the-two-unsuspecting-victims.

A few more laps around them, and soon they were roped together, their legs strapped to each others and caught. Frisker's owner was rushing over now, only recently becoming alert to the mischief her dog had gotten into.

Athrun and Cagalli were both red enough for the ripest tomatoes to be jealous. In addition to simply being tangled into each other, they were joined by their legs, with their hands frantically trying to untangle one another, occasionally brushing each other's hands, turning more red, then apologizing and continuing to untangle, while just getting more tangled, with Frisker running around and yapping, drawing more attention and getting more tangled.

The situation seemed hopeless until the owner finally came, and resolved to simply cut them loose, and buy a new leash. Moments later, a heap of cord lay on the ground, with a very embarrassed pair of joggers, and a conflicted dog. He was very satisfied with his work, yet unhappy that he was now going to get carried home, his movement much restricted.

And both joggers, bearing faces that resembled a stop sign, silently agreed that this would be a good time to head home.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**

A few hours passed, until the bright morning sun had begun to slip below the horizon again, painting the sky a series of purplish pinks, and tinting the clouds a vibrant display of orange. In some ways it was always a bit surreal, looking up during this time.

Trying to name all the colors that there were was a hobby of Lacus', and she never grew tired of it. Because every single time she looked up, there was always a slightly different color, and she could always choose and different name. This was what she had begun to lose herself in doing, when Kira came up to her, and told her that they could finally make their way into the restaurant.

She had spent the entire day with the guy, and had nothing to complain about. It had been a comfortable, easy going day with a brief stroll through downtown, and then a sit on a park bench. He had just gone to buy a drink for a moment, and here she was already, zoning off into a world of unnamed colors.

"Lacus?... You okay?"

She blinked back into reality. "Hm?... Yes, just naming colors."

He tilted his head in confusion and mild interest. "Care to explain."

She smiled and pointed up to the sky. "Colors. I'm naming them."

"What have you come up with?"

Lacus thought for a moment. "That spot... next to the cloud that's shaped kind of like a rabbit. The cloud's color is Tangerine Sunset, and the bit next to it is Island Horizon."

Kira squinted a bit looking up and seemed to take a moment to focus his eyes. "Looks pretty good to me. What about that area under the cloud over there? The big one?"

The young woman accompanying him slided her gaze over to where his finger was pointing. "What about that one?"

"Have you named it yet?"

"No. Not yet."

"Can I?"

"Sure, if you'd like to, be my guest." She smiled, happy that he was taking part in her little mid evening activity.

Kira paused for a moment, as if thinking hard.

"Gradient Clyne."

Lacus blinked. "Clyne? My last name?"

He nodded. "Yeah... The cloud is a pale pink like your hair, but the bottom is a strikingly clear blue, like your eyes. And it's a gradual blend of colors, so it's a gradient. The colors don't match perfectly, but that's what they remind me of."

She smiled. "And why not my first name?"

He shot her a quick grin. "No color's good enough to have your first name attached to it."

The very flattered young lady let out a soft laugh. "I see... Now why aren't you a poet?"

Another grin. "I can only do this for you Lacus. Only you."

And with that, the two set off towards the restaurant, both feeling considerably more content than before.

Cagalli sat down at her kitchen table, pulling out her laptop and getting out some notes. It was time to start writing... Truthfully though she had confidence and pride in her writing, and did enjoy it, she still had a tendency to procrastinate.

It really was a horrible habit, often causing her to be up until the wee hours of the morning still writing. And her work would probably be better if she wasn't running on more coffee than sleep, but she simply couldn't get herself to focus otherwise. She'd tell herself every time, that this time she was going to get started, and break the habit.

Never happened.

In fact, now that she was facing her laptop, she thought about it. She still had all day tomorrow... And she was pretty hungry too.

Strolling into the kitchen, she pulled open the fridge and studied the contents...

It was decent. Not enough to make a gourmet meal, which she wasn't capable of anyways, but at least she could throw together something simple. A salad and maybe some sort of grilled chicken?... Grabbing a bag of frozen chicken breasts from the freezer, she dumped them in a bowl in her sink and went to turn on the stove.

...Funny.

It didn't seem to be... turning on.

She went across the kitchen, and tried flipping on the light.

...Funny. The electricity seemed to be working at all.

Which meant it might be-

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**

"A blackout." Kira sighed, returning to his seat, after going to inquire what happened. All off the lights in the already relatively dim restaurant had suddenly blacked out leaving practically everyone in darkness. The management had brought out some candles, but for those that liked to see what they were putting in their mouths, it was a bit unpleasant to say the least.

Some would call it romantic. Others would call it unsettling.

In fact, those "others" had already pulled out their cell phones are were using them as make shift flashlight, pointing it their plates before taking careful bites.

Lacus didn't appear to mind. She could eat either way. Kira however, was taking it a bit harder.

"Something wrong?" She asked, growing concerned.

"Ah... no." He shrugged.

She paused a moment. "You know, this doesn't ruin the evening or anything. I'm still having a lot of fun."

"Yeah... I know. But it's just unexpected." He shrugged. Looking up for a moment, he caught the reflection of the dancing candle flame in her eyes and smiled. "But it's not bad. Not at all."

A pause as he reflected for a moment.

"You're still here."

She smiled, a warm and genuine smile, not unlike the darting candle flame before him.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**

Cagalli frowned, relatively miserable. She didn't have enough cash to go out, and couldn't cook anything... She was hungry, which left her nothing to do but write with whatever remaining battery was in her laptop.

Ugh.

It was as if some divine conscience was forcing her to write. She had still tried to hold off though, digging around for candles and lighting them for light. Her arms folded, the lazy writer now glared at the computer screen for a while. She wasn't sure how good this would be if it was forced writing...

A knock on her door commanded her attention elsewhere. Welcoming the distraction, the pulled open the wooden barrier to reveal...

"Athrun?" She seemed surprised. What was he doing here in the middle of a blackout?...

"I don't suppose you have any candles you'd be willing to lend me... I don't have any and I assume at least the whole building's blacked out." He sighed, as if reading her thoughts.

"Uhh... Yeah, I do, I'm just not positive where I put them." She admitted, a bit sheepish, then head towards the kitchen and began to pull open drawers at random.

Athrun stood at the door, taking a sweeping glance of the apartment. It was basically exactly the same as his, just furnished in a different way. Noticing the open laptop, he smiled. "So... how's the article coming along?"

Cagalli paused for a moment, and weighed her words carefully. "Uh... slowly?"

The other writer present smiled to himself a bit. Knowing her, she probably hadn't started yet, but he was not going to criticize. To each their own. Some people couldn't write until they were nearing the deadline, when they'd suddenly feel a burst of inspiration and churn out the most amazing flow of words almost effortlessly. Pacing yourself often meant nothing in the world of writing. Inspiration could come and go like the tide.

"So... what's on the menu for you?" He made another effort at conversation, peeking into the kitchen where the search of candles didn't seem to be making much progress.

"Uh... nothing." Cagalli admitted again. "The power blacked out before I could prepare anything. I figure I'll just have some fruit..."

"I made baked ziti before the power went out. If you want, we can split it." Athrun offered.

"That would be great... heh, that way you won't owe me for candles... Ah HA!" She pulled out five candles triumphantly. Still in the originally wrapping no less.

Athrun smiled a bit. "There's an odd number."

Cagalli frowned, apparently seriously trying to solve this dilemma. "Well... What's the equivalence rate between candles and bananas here? I still owe you bananas, right? I think it's just two now, but then the food... No, that doesn't work out because there's still an odd number of candles, even if I were to give you two...AGH!" She threw her hands up in exasperation, almost flinging the candles out the nearest window. Athrun made a quick grab for them, catching them just before they left her hands.

"How about we just eat together, so we don't split the candles, and I give you food. We'll count this night as split even."

Cagalli pretended to think for a moment. "I'll get the forks." She flashed a quick grin. Athrun smiled amusedly, then went back to his place to fetch the food.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**

Minutes later Cagalli was happily helping herself to delicious nourishment. Wonderful... Athrun however, was holding back laughter at the random bits of sauce that were landing on the front of her shirt and sides of her mouth.

"Slow down.. You're going to choke." He managed to suppress a laugh into a chuckle. "There's plenty you know."

Cagalli swallowed a large bite, and took a gulp of water. "I like Italian." She regarded him for a moment. He seemed to be lost up in the night sky, staring out of her window and looking at it intently. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she called his name.

He jumped at the sound of his name. "Sorry. I zoned out."

"Anything interesting?"

Athrun pointed at the bright full moon. "What color would you say that is?"

Cagalli studied it a moment. "Sterling Ivory"

"Are you sure?"

She regarded him a moment, then looked back at it. "Sterling Ivory sounded fine to her... but it wasn't so much ivory as it was... maybe a white?

"See? not so easy." Athrun smiled at her obvious efforts as she glared at the sky. Her expression was one of puzzled concentration, as if she thought that by staring at the moon for long enough an answer would just pop into her head.

Finally, Cagalli smiled and took a bite of her food again. "Can't think on an empty stomach."

She then turned to look at the sky again.

Not a bad night.

"Hey Athrun?"

"Hm?"

"I don't care if this night's even, I owe you."

"No, this is for the taxi that you ended up paying half for anyways."

She grinned. "You caught on?"

"Only after I hung up my jacket." He admitted, shaking his head in disbelief. "That was a good one, I had no idea."

"Mm... I learned that one from my dad. He'd always go out for formal dinners, and would argue with business friends over who should pay the bill. That was one of the tricks."

Athrun appeared interested. "One of them? What are others?"

Cagalli shot him a mischievous look, "Well I can't tell you that. If I did then how would I use them on you?"

A pair of blue eyebrows raised challengingly. "I'd like to see you try."

"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." She smiled.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

**Let the games begin!  
**

**The name for the dog, "Frisker" came from absolutely nowhere...I swear. However if I do get a dog, in which I hope to soon, I will probably name him or her that, now that I think about it. Just for the fun of it.**

**Ahhh yeah late late late update. I wanted to make this chapter longer, and kept trying to think of how much more I could put in... but finally gave up. Good news is that I have the rest of the stories all planned out now. In fact, I've written the final chapters. I just need to fill it in now. **

**There's just the issue of me running into some difficulty trying to upload "Matchmeddling" at the moment, but I'm hoping to be able to have it up by the end of the day, at the very least.**

**Thank you to my lovely reviewers. Please pardon the late updates. The issue of tuition at my college is really starting to push me and so I'm finding myself pretty occupied in trying to get a student loan. **

**AC 4 EVER AND EVER, Kathya, Swt. Harmony, The Angels' Princess, CagalliandAthrungirlforever, 3fi-pina3, Life Is Death, takai love, Garowyn, Tetsuni, PINKSISA, asucags, i Mel-chan i, jackie-88-ac, gseedlover, Fukari, RoGuE-WhItE-DrAgOn, psychoanalyst, The Jackle, IYGU, XxbuffyxX, Siriuslyblacked, xfangirl obsessionx, Kitty-Kat90013820, Cari-Akira, Kandida, ANONYMOUS-gsd, Kazumi Kairi or Kairi-chan, outlanders, X-19A Infinite Justice, Rayar, Kintora, Akatsuki Will, ChirpyChippy, thousandbirds, ovp, meowmeow, MyouseiSeed, stuntsheep, ChildO'God, daisukiasu'n'caga, animemistress419, Princess Ashes. **

**I'll update as soon as possible!**

**Periodic-Prose**


	5. The End

**Hi everyone,**

**Neighbors had a whopping 10 pages of work laid down. This one was actually my favorite of the three that I started later on, so I felt I had to post it up. This is very very broken up, with some parts fully written out from about 5 years ago, and others just written in to fill the gaps. It is NOT how I originally wanted to end this, but it will have to do.**

* * *

So their banter went on for days almost, and it was clear to see where things were heading. They were sending text messages back and forth as if trying to conceal their need to talk to each other. Perhaps it didn't come as such a surprise then, when Athrun sheepishly walked up to her office one day with a draft for an article to ask her to take a look at, with a sticky note on top.

"_Will you go out with me?"_

Suddenly she couldn't stop laughing or smiling. Her response was to run into his office and hug him, the entire office as an audience be damned.

* * *

Everyone felt an uplifting feeling around them, even strangers on the bus that they sometimes took on the way home from work. They wood always stand, so that others could have a seat. And Athrun would always have one hand holding a rail on the bus, and the other wrapped around her, to make sure she wouldn't fall during the sudden starts and stops. And if she or he sometimes did trip, the other would help them regain their balance, and they'd laugh it off.

When they got home they'd head into one person's apartment to eat dinner, then afterwards there would sometimes just sit on the couch and watch television together, or read in each others company. If necessary, they would do some work, but in general they preferred not to use free time together to do that. At the end of the night, other person would head across the hall, both being much too shy to suggest sleeping over.

At work they were the "cute couple", that everyone wanted to watch. The girls who used to fawn over Athrun had suddenly changed spots, and could often be found trying to catch moments between the two. More often than not, it was pretty annoying and so eventually Athrun and Cagalli just didn't bother trying steal time for each other. Neither had found the ability to do something like kiss with an audience, and so they settled for affectionate glances, or inconspicuous brushes against each other every now and then.

And they were happy.

So much so that time flew by in a way that had made both of them forget something very important to both of them...

* * *

The Contest.

Eventually, Athrun got an e-mail at home from the organizers of the contest, reminding him that in a week's time the judges would convene and vote on the final few entries.

Cagalli, who happened to be propped across the back of his shoulders, stole a quick peek at the e-mail then pressed a quick kiss against the back of his head. Her left arm slipped out from under her and wrapped around him.

Athrun smiled at the gesture. "I had almost forgotten about the contest... I finished reading all the preliminary ones a while ago, so it wasn't really on my mind."

"Hmm... I sort of did. I finished writing my entry a while ago, and submitted it, but it's always been important to me. I just didn't realize that the winners would be announced so soon." She replied. "it's just that... other things have been occupying my time." She added with a bit of a grin, poking him on the side where she had discovered he was mildly ticklish.

Her boyfriend jumped a bit, turning his head to look at her. "Are you complaining?" He grinned with a slightly mocking tone.

"Distraction. That's your new nickname." Cagalli teased, dipping her head a bit lower. Her bangs slipped forward over her eyes a bit, but Athrun brushed them away for her, then kissed her forehead and nuzzled against her cheek.

"Well, as long as it's not in a bad way..." He sighed contently, beginning to sway them back and forth slightly to the beat of the cheesy love ballad coming out of his laptop speakers.

The girl wrapped around him laughed, playfully shoving him a bit. "You're such a flake."

"I'm a romantic." Athrun shrugged, reaching back to her with his right arm, a smile still evident on his face.

"And I'm completely wrapped up in you."

* * *

**Here I need to make some serious explanation for the rest of this to make sense. When Cagalli submitted her entry she also explained if she won, what she would use the prize money for. And what she had written was that she would relocate to another country entirely and start a new life. Athrun, upon reading this is shocked that apparently she had planned to leave all along. Feeling betrayed, he doesn't vote for her entry and she doesn't win.**

**Cagalli indirectly finds out she lost the contest due to one vote. When she asks Athrun about it, after a long evasive conversation he reveals that he did not vote for her entry. And so we arrive at this situation, a confrontation at work in the break room.**

* * *

"You KNEW! You KNEW how important this was to me!" She cried angrily, tears of frustration leaking from the corners of her eyes, despite her efforts to hold them back. Gradually, she began to care less and less about how bad she was going to look. She was wanted him to fell as miserable as she felt. "If you really felt that I didn't deserve to win that contest, then I would be fine with it! But you even told me upfront that you thought my entry was best!"

"It was!" Athrun protested, desperate to fit a word into this one sided argument.

"Well you must have lied somewhere along the way! And I'm not sure what I could be more angry about. You lying to me about my own work, in private, or you lying about my work in front of a panel of judges and crushing my dream!"

"Goddamn it Cagalli!" Her victim of verbal assault finally spoke angrily, his eyes also apparently beginning to water. "I wasn't lying to you when I said your entry was best! It really was! But when I read your reasons, and how you'd use the money... I just couldn't vote for you anymore. You know, that wasn't really the best way for me to find out that my own girlfriend was planning to pack up and move away forever! Call me a coward for being afraid to lose you, because I am! But God help me if I just let you stroll out of my life like that!"

"How can you be so selfish like that?"

"Well someone has to be selfish about this relationship of ours! Because apparently only one side cares enough to-"

"I wrote that damned reason before I even knew you existed!"

"But if you had won, you'd still leave!"

She blinked, the surprise from the accusation evident on her face. And he could only feel his heart drop as she never refuted his statement. So… she would.

Both were glaring at each other: Cagalli in fiery anger that he had ruined her chances of dreaming. Athrun in cold fury, that she was treating their relationship like rubbish. He had felt guilty, but he wanted her to understand his reasons at the very least. Instead, she was apparently trying to pretend his reason never existed in the first place.

He swallowed hard.

"What's even worse than if you would simply refuse me and turn away from the start... Is the fact that you can act with such ambivalence. As if denying Every Single Feeling that I have confessed to you... As if saying that they don't exist. 'So what if you love me, I don't care, I need to run off alone and never even tell you that.' My feelings are a reality. Just refuse me. At least then I'd know that you recognize there's something to refuse. But indifference, as if you turned a deaf ear to my confessions... I can't take it." He let out a desperate sigh and looked away.

Cagalli felt furious. Furious at him for being like this, and furious at herself for being unable to stop the tears coming out of her eyes. She took a moment to steady her voice, which she wasn't sure she could trust...

"Don't... don't say things like that, as if you were the one hurt most by this! From now on, don't even think that I want anything to do with you past a professional relationship. Even though I won't have moved away, as far as things go for you, I may as well have." She spoke in an eerily calm voice. Athrun still caught her vocal chords straining to make out the words, yet did not point it out, too angry to care.

"If you wish to live in denial, then I won't try to force you into anything." Standing up perfectly straight, he turned and walked out of the room briskly. Cagalli stared at his retreating figure for a moment, before turning and realizing that they had quite an audience. Biting her lip she also quickly exited the room, leaving the spectators quite numb and in shock.

* * *

**Again, too lazy to write out everything that happened in between. In short Athrun went over to Cagalli's later that night in hopes that they could talk it out.**

* * *

"I'm sorry."

A pause. For a while, he just stared at her back for a while, unsure of whether she was going to respond. His hand rested unsettled on the doorknob, unsure whether or not to simply swing the wooden barrier into its place between them, or wait.

"Okay."

It was a simple answer. In some ways, he was just happy she had responded. In others, he was disappointed that she didn't say more.

Because just "okay"... could mean a number of things. And the heavy silence that clung to the air afterwards only served to make him grip the doorknob tighter.

"Are you sure?"

She gripped the pillow clutched against her chest tighter, her fingers pressing into the soft material. Instinctively, protectively, she brought her knees closer towards her.

"No."

His fingers felt numb from clamping onto the doorknob, his knuckles clearly white. Well, at least she was telling the truth. At the same time, hearing it only unsettled the twisted feeling in his gut.

"Alright."

He fought to keep his erratic heart rate under control. If it were someone else, anyone else, he would protest. He would walk into the room and force them to say more, or at least face him when speaking.

Yet fear, yes, cold fear drowned him in its icy hold, and he was totally paralyzed. For if he did stay, and she did turn around he would be faced with the brightest pair of amber eyes he'd ever seen...

Clouded by the pain of betrayal.

His betrayal.

Slowly, he stepped back and into the hallway, carefully turning the door knob so that not even a soft click could be heard as the door swung tightly. He stayed there for a while, gradually letting go of the door.

In some ways, he wasn't sure what to do from this point. He just, didn't know where to go after he let go of the brass knob, the last thread connecting him to her.

And another part of him, silently prayed that the door would swing open, and she would burst outwards towards him.

But no, she wasn't that kind of person. She would sit in there. This was his punishment: It wasn't supposed to be, but it was. For hurting her, he now had to hurt... He had to feel pain, from the thought of causing her pain. From the thought of her being in pain... and there being nothing he could do.

And so gradually he slipped away, to accept his cruel fate.

And as she heard his quiet footsteps grow distant, then gradually fade away, she slowly let go of the pillow and lay down, placing it under her head.

And she cried.

As the night went on she lay on her bed, fully awake and frowning at her cell phone, clutching it tightly. Why wasn't he calling her? If he was so willing to simply let go of what they had-

She stopped herself. What they had?... What was it that they had?... Did they have anything?

And didn't... she almost throw it away too? For her career...

But he had stopped her. That wasn't his decision to make. To stop her like that... such a thing was completely selfish.

But he was protecting what they had, wasn't he?...

But... what did they HAVE?

She had never felt more alone in her life.

* * *

The next day, the usual crowd around the coffee machine's subject of conversation was the obvious. The heated argument between who used to be known as the "couple" that everyone wanted to keep track off, looked like they were angry enough to kill each other.

The rest of the day had been awkward for everyone, and Athrun and Cagalli didn't even see each other. Cagalli left early, no doubt in effort to avoid having to met Athrun on the way home. Athrun didn't even take the chance. He stayed behind very late, and decided to take a cab anyways, with the route cars taking being considerably different from the path that they would take to walk home.

Now the first test came. The morning rush way was always crowded and it would be impossible for they to completely avoid each other. Perhaps the next confrontation would be another verbal duel?... Or would they both give up?

They were speaking about it so much they didn't even realize that they two people were already coming down the hall. By the time Lacus quickly made the notion to signal everyone to shut up because they were approaching, everyone's were fixed. Miriallia was biting her lower lip, trying to keep herself form saying anything, Kira didn't seem to notice that he was clutching his Styrofoam coffee cup so hard, that it was beginning to crack a bit, and Lacus observed silently. Sai pretended to be getting more sugar. In nervous anticipation they held their breaths.

Both Athrun and Cagalli passed by each other without the slightest sign of noticing that the other existed, looking straight past each other. Neither person's eyes flickered in the other's direction for even the faintest of moments. Their shoulders didn't even graze each others, as both tilted their bodies in their step to avoid doing so. Each walked with a step so brisk that their hair was blown back as if by a slight breeze, giving the impression that they were flying past each other.

The only thing that either had done, was completely subconscious. Unnoticed by those watching, by the other person, or even by themselves, both had taken a slightly deeper breath when they passed each other, as if trying to catch a scent of the other person.

Perhaps that was why it wasn't until they were safely out of other's view that the strong facade began to crack slightly. Athrun's eyes narrowed a bit, as he continued down the hall. Cagalli's right hand, which was holding a jump drive, tightened ever so slightly.

* * *

**A lot of stuff happens here. To make it short they do grow distant and eventually after weeks of essentially not talking to each other at all, grow apart. Athrun leaves the company to work elsewhere and Cagalli, though upset congratulates him. They have both learned to deal with the separation and are in that way, leading independent lives and slowly on the path to becoming friends again. Cagalli reveals that she has applied for a journalism grant and is hoping to be able to travel abroad again. Athrun, still feeling guilty for what he did, is happy that she is still pursuing her dream and will be moving forward.**

**Cagalli does in fact receive the grant and is going to be moving. On the day she receives her notice, she holds a party at her house and Athrun is there. At this point they have been talking more, and essentially rebuilt their friendship into a close one. Athrun is torn between wanting to try dating again, not sure if they're ready of if it's right. And Cagalli is somehow feeling much more hesitant to leave than she initially thought she would have. Athrun decides to stay after everyone else has left to help her clean up and deal with some unfinished words.**

* * *

They were sitting around her coffee table now, each sipping on their drink of choice. For her, an Earl Grey with lemon and sugar. For him a plain black coffee. "You know, I think I am going to miss my apartment. I've spent a lot of time here. But to be honest this place never really felt like home until you moved in across the hall." Cagalli smiled. "I know we've had our… ups and downs"

He laughed at her choice of words. Ups and downs indeed. They had both build each other up, knocked each other down, grown together and apart… and when it came down to it he really did love her. Though he had said it before perhaps he had been mistaken. Not in that he didn't love her then, but it was in many ways a love that was based on who he thought she was and perhaps even who he wanted her to be.

And though it had taken time and quite frankly a great deal of pain on both their parts, they had grown to understand each other much more clearly than before. Though she was still the bright and stubborn girl that he had first been attracted to, it was clear that her stubbornness would not always go in his favor, nor would be always be able to overcome it. For that, he deeply respected her.

Cagalli on the other hand was almost shocked by how hadn't realized before how determined and stubborn he could be as well. Over the past year it had become evident that the guy who she thought would always be selfless and eternally giving for her has his limits as well. In the end it probably really did take this sort of thing for her to realize just how much she had asked of him sometimes. Perhaps she had been self-centered. Perhaps she had been guarding herself too much. In the end he had always been tried to be completely honest with her, ever constant, ever caring and for that she deeply admired him.

"Are you angry at me... for not being able to stay?" She asked, not sure exactly what she was going for. It was just something that seemed appropriate to ask, given past circumstances.

He laughed, knowing this would inevitably come up. "No... But I am frustrated. That you became someone who I wanted to stay, but I could not persuade to do so. " Athrun smiled, aware that in that sense some things hadn't changed.

There was a long drawn out silence as both of them became increasingly aware of the fact that whatever happened next would probably change a lot of things. It almost made them want to turn and run away from it, if not for the fact that they were both tired of running. Both tired of wondering.

"I used to think that I loved you too much for my own good..." Cagalli started. He remained silent, eyes intently focused the calm features that graced her complacent face. Suddenly, the placid pools of amber in her eyes turned towards him, illuminating her visage. "But that's not it, is it? I didn't love you too much... My mind just wasn't willing to love you enough. I just... couldn't handle all the emotions in my heart, quite yet."

Athrun reached out his right hand and put it on top of hers, his thumb stroking her wrist comfortingly, without either of them even realizing it.

"For me…" He started, "My heart... soul... whatever romantic or spiritual analogy you want to use... It's not like I've reserved a spot for you in there. It's just that there's always been an empty space. And you just happen to be the only person that fits in there."

Deep breath now…

"I'm not going to ask you to stay. Because I'm not in a position to do that, and maybe I never was in the first place, and maybe I never will be. But I am going to tell you, that I don't want you to leave. And if you do leave, though I will want to, I may or may not follow you. Because I'm not sure I would be able to."

Hearing this, she was puzzled and it was evident on her face. "I figured… I mean I sort of thought that you wouldn't. To be totally honest I have my own reservations about this. It's a big step for me…"

"Look what I'm saying is that though I want to stay with you, I don't know if I'm ready to do something like chase you to the ends of the world." He interrupted. "For a number of reasons which, I'm sure you understand. I've learned to be a little more firm in taking a stance for myself… perhaps from you."

She couldn't help but laugh at this. "I'm so proud of you!" Cagalli declared facetiously. And he smiled because she was smiling. "Okay then, time for me to show you what you've taught me. I love you Athrun. I really do and I want to stay here with you but I can't give up on my dream again. And I wish I could ask you to leave with me, but I know that's too selfish."

At this point she may as well have been speaking in Greek because he wasn't hearing anything past the 'I love you".

"Did you just say you love me? Say it again, so I know I wasn't hearing things. Seriously? You do? You're not kidding right? You're not just saying things to make me feel better because you're leaving right?"

And suddenly it was all a jumble of laughing and hugging and he couldn't stop kissing her which made her blush like there was no tomorrow.

* * *

So maybe they hadn't had the perfect relationship that was roses and butterflies right from the start. They had both made mistakes and both hurt each other, but grown learned more about one another than either would have thought possible. In the end, between all the anger and frustration and even the breakups, they did love each other. Be it distance, or time, or work, everything else was just that.

Everything else.

* * *

**This concludes 'Neighbors'. I think it some ways it is the most honest and true of the stories I've written, though perhaps the least romantic. Thank you for reading.**

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